U.S. Sanctions Expose the Women Aiding Fugitive Ryan Wedding

Meet the women who were sanctioned by the U.S. Government this week for their roles in propping up the sprawling narco operation helped by former Olympic turned drug lord Ryan Wedding, now a fugitive with a $15 million bounty on his head

Ryan Wedding, federal prosecutors say, sits at the helm of a sprawling narco empire, one protected by the bloodthirsty Sinaloa cartel, an allegedly dirty Canadian lawyer, a cadre of international sicarios, and even an Italian mercenary.

But little has been known – until now – about the women in his life who U.S. federal officials say prop up his business, laundering money and assisting him in “acts of violence,” a Mexican wife, a Colombian girlfriend, and a madam who runs an upscale escort business, and one of those escorts, a Colombian national living in Orlando. This week, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control put the women on a sanctions list, which blocks any assets they have in the United States and prohibits Americans from engaging in any business transactions with them.

His wife, Miryam Andrea Castillo Moreno, a 34-year-old raven-haired beauty from Nuevo León, Mexico, has been part of Wedding’s life since at least 2011, when U.S. officials say she married him in a federal prison where he was serving a short three year sentence after pleading guilty in 2008 to a botched drug deal in San Diego that involved a former Russian KGB agent who was actually working for the FBI. This week, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned her, writing: “Castillo launders drug proceeds for Wedding and has helped him conduct acts of violence.” A day later, the Treasury Department removed her from the list on Thursday, saying that there was no evidence she was involved with his business.

But Wedding’s reputed 23-year-old Colombian girlfriend, Daniela Alejandra Acuña Macías, remains on the sanctions list, accused by U.S. officials of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from the former Olympian, knowing that the money came from his drug trafficking operation. She has not been charged criminally by U.S. officials and is believed to be somewhere in Mexico.

An accused madam who prosecutors say introduced Wedding to that girlfriend, Carmen Yelinet Valoyes Florez, 47, a Colombian national from Bogotá, behind what authorities call a high-end escort service in Mexico City, was arrested this week as part of the investigation into Ryan Wedding’s criminal network. She faces multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to commit murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise, witness tampering, and money laundering.

Another Colombian national prosecutors described as a “commercial sex worker” was charged with helping Wedding and his top lieutenant, Andrew Clark, track down a cooperating informant so he could be executed. Yulieth Katherine Tejada, 36, was arrested this week at her home in Orlando and is now charged with conspiracy counts related to murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise, witness tampering, and money laundering.

Credit: Department of Treasury

While on the run as a fugitive with a $15 million U.S. bounty on his head, Wedding – who is believed to have gotten plastic surgery while in hiding – ordered the assassination of the cooperating witness, Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, 39, who sources say had agreed to work with the FBI in building the case against the ex-Olympian and his consiglieri, Canadian Andrew Clark, 39.

Scroll to continue reading

Prosecutors say that Wedding placed a “multimillion-dollar bounty” on the cooperating witness not long after he and more than a dozen others were indicted by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles in a case dubbed Operation Giant Slalom. Wedding, prosecutors say, had a “citizen journalist” who ran an online website called “Dirty News” that ran the informant’s photo, and then used the madam and the escort as lures to help track Acebo-Garcia down.

The informant was shot dead by a group of unknown assassins in a crowded restaurant inside a Medellin mall on Jan. 31, 2025.

Among the other criminals now accused of helping Wedding execute the victim and to continue to collect profits from his still operational trafficking network, while sitting atop the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, include a coterie of colorful international figures. One is an “Indian-Canadian” criminal defense attorney, Deepak Paradkar, 62, who prosecutors call a key advisor to Wedding and a top lieutenant in the organization, his consiglieri, Canadian Andrew Clark, 39.

Another is former Italian special forces member, Gianluca Tiepolo, who the Treasury Department sanctioned for running a training camp, Windrose Tactical, that allegedly trained Wedding-connected hitmen, along with legitimate law enforcement members. Authorities call him a prolific money launderer who allegedly managed Wedding’s luxury assets, including a fleet of high-end vehicles that included a $13 million Mercedes CLK-GTR seized by the FBI.

Prosecutors also arrested Rolon Sokolovski, 37, a professional poker player and diamond dealer from Toronto who is now accused of helping Wedding launder money through a worldwide cryptocurrency network.

The Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, John K. Hurley, said that his department issued the sanctions as a way of trying to cut Wedding’s criminal partners off from the U.S. financial system in hopes it would “help dismantle the network” the fugitive relies on while he remains on the lam. “Our goal is simple,” Hurley said in a statement. “Make it difficult for criminals like this to profit from poisoning our communities.”